JMS on CompuServe (Jun 02, 1997) *POSSIBLE SPOILERS*
bbarrett at speedlink.com
bbarrett at speedlink.com
Tue Jun 3 00:02:23 EDT 1997
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WARNING !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The following posts may contain SPOILERS for
upcoming Babylon 5 episodes.
Continue at your own risk.
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Note that JMS has expressed his public permission
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[ Summary of subjects in this section: ]
Sb: #673538-#BESTER?!!
Sb: #673556-< NS,NR > L&G
Sb: #673577-No Surrender No retreat
Sb: #673602-Kathryn Drennan's Novel?
Sb: #673603-No Surrender No Retreat
Sb: #673614-NS, NR
Sb: #673646-Season 5
Sb: #673766-No Surrender No Retreat
Sb: #673778-Neroon
[ Summary: Comments that he's a big Trek fan and has always personally
stereotyped all of the Original Series actors in their roles. But
he recently happened upon Star Trek VI on television and, when he
saw Walter Koenig, he immediately thought, "Bester!??" ]
#: 673553 S5/Babylon 5: General
02-Jun-97 03:07:00
Sb: #673538-#BESTER?!!
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
I *think* that's a good thing....
What's been great about B5 has been the chance to give many talented
actors like Walter and others a chance to show the many other hues and colors
they are capable of delivering, but which were rarely seen because the material
didn't allow them the opportunity. I know Walter's loved it, and it's been
great for us as well.
jms
#: 673556 S6/Babylon 5: Spoilers
02-Jun-97 04:08:52
Sb: #673364-#< NS,NR > L&G
Fm: DEONAHA M. CONLIN
Joe,
Peter was Excellent - I was ready to smack G'kar for making it so tough
on Londo. Sure, the man has goofed up Big Time, but he's seen what can come of
lousy choices - and G'kar was smug, unbending and prestty basically a snot. He
hasn't always been Mr. Wonderful himself.
This was some of the best battle tension since Severed Dreams - nice to
see Sheridan in fighting trim again. I got the same "uh-oh" feeling I used to
get when Mom would utter those WORDS -- "I have had ENOUGH!" Oh, s.....
Di Conlin, Minister of Paranoid Development & Personality Reconstruction, RMES
Wielder of the Lesser Salmon of Discipline, TUS Subversive in Training
PURPLE!!! ----------ETA UK 34 days -------- Wolf minus 38 days
#: 673629 S6/Babylon 5: Spoilers
02-Jun-97 11:22:42
Sb: #673556-< NS,NR > L&G
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
I'm not sure there *is* anything scarier than a mom uttering those
words; even the shadows would run.
jms
#: 673577 S6/Babylon 5: Spoilers
02-Jun-97 05:23:38
Sb: #673361-#No Surrender No retreat
Fm: ROB CARR
>> "It seems to me that the White Stars (particularly in the numbers I
perceived in this Ep) should have been able to deal with the Earth ships like
lamb to a slaughter." <<
Also, the White Stars are very powerful compared to other ships their size -
but the large Earth ships can carry more firepower simply because they are so
much larger.
I had accidentally read the messages about this question before I saw the ep,
but the balance of ship strengths did seem reasonable when I saw it.
Sheridan, wanting to give everyone on the other side every chance to avoid
battle, reminded me very much of my favorite historical military figure -- Joan
of Arc. At one point, before the Coward Charles screwed things up, she was on
a roll. Her army would show up, announce themselves, and allow the opposition
to come out unarmed as long as they promised to go home to England. An amazing
number took her up on it.
While many credit Joan of Arc with revolutionizing warfare in her use of
artillery (granted, an obvious innovation, but everyone else was stuck in the
traditional rut), her greatest military strategy is one that is too often
forgotten - compassion.
The one incident her biographers all mention and was documented thoroughly at
her trial (ok, so maybe that's why it gets mentioned) is when she knelt down,
held a dead enemy boy, and cried. While Sheridan hasn't done that, I could
picture it happening.
(Oh, the scenes with G'kar and Londo were incredible - it would have been too
easy to have them either make up or be at war with each other. Instead, what
you gave us was more subtle and realistic.)
Good job all around!
Rob
#: 673630 S6/Babylon 5: Spoilers
02-Jun-97 11:22:43
Sb: #673577-No Surrender No retreat
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
Good point about Joan of Arc...too many people forget that sort of
thing.
Which, on reflection, may be the problem in ways a lot larger than just
B5.
jms
[ Summary: When will Kathryn Drennan's new B5 novel be released? ]
#: 673631 S5/Babylon 5: General
02-Jun-97 11:22:44
Sb: #673602-Kathryn Drennan's Novel?
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
I believe it will be out in a few weeks.
jms
[ Summary: Thinks JMS did a very good job handling the moral dilema of
an officer having to decide whether or not to execute bad orders.
Asks JMS if he was in the military. ]
#: 673632 S6/Babylon 5: Spoilers
02-Jun-97 11:22:46
Sb: #673603-No Surrender No Retreat
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
No, I wasn't in the military, just having missed the Vietnam draft. The
points you mention are all the ones I wanted to get into with that episode, and
the ones a lot of folks have overlooked in suggesting that it should have been
an episode about slicing-and-dicing the enemy (the enemy in this case being our
own species). The show, at root, is about ethics, among other things, and the
ethical choices will continue to get more difficult the deeper you go. There
is a very fine line that Sheridan's walking in all this.
jms
#: 673614 S6/Babylon 5: Spoilers
02-Jun-97 08:15:23
Sb: #NS, NR
Fm: CATHERINE BECIC
I was almost to tears with the emotions through the G'Kar/Londo scenes. I was
going to be real upset there for a while. How could G'Kar, who has gone
through great revelations, not see the validity to Londo's proposition? But he
came through in the end. Again, you didn't disappoint.
Catherine Becic
#: 673633 S6/Babylon 5: Spoilers
02-Jun-97 11:22:48
Sb: #673614-NS, NR
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
Thanks...if G'Kar came around too easily or quickly, it would ring
false; it had to go through some time and reflection. But even though one
could certainly agree with his anger over what's happened, G'Kar has to try and
overcome that and even transcend it.
jms
#: 673646 S5/Babylon 5: General
02-Jun-97 13:10:50
Sb: #673358-#Season 5
Fm: DAWN L. LOW
Are to movies going to be aired at all on WB or will it be solely on cable?
Dawn
#: 673763 S5/Babylon 5: General
02-Jun-97 17:51:04
Sb: #673646-Season 5
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
They're strictly TNT.
jms
#: 673766 S6/Babylon 5: Spoilers
02-Jun-97 17:56:17
Sb: #673632-#No Surrender No Retreat
Fm: SCOTT BAKER
>> The show, at root, is about ethics, among other things, and the ethical
choices will continue to get more difficult the deeper you go. There is a very
fine line that Sheridan's walking in all this. <<
I have to comment on this. I've noticed since Sheridans return from Z'Ha'Dum,
he seams more... intense. How did the trip to Z, his death, and Lorien shape
his feelings on this? I sense something very nasty lurking under the surface
of Sheridan, almost like something out of a horor novel.
--Scott
#: 673791 S6/Babylon 5: Spoilers
02-Jun-97 19:24:45
Sb: #673766-No Surrender No Retreat
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
He's certainly gotten harder, which may be necessary to what's ahead.
jms
[ Summary: More comments on the moral dilema issue of military commanders. ]
#: 673792 S5/Babylon 5: General
02-Jun-97 19:24:46
Sb: #673778-Neroon
Fm: J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
It's certainly an issue I care about quite a lot, and the delicate
balance between orders and conscience, between what you think you should be
doing vs. what you feel you *must* do, is the heart of 99% of all drama.
jms
[END]
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